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Author
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Topic: Uptown Theater ditches quality projectionists in search of a crappy presentation
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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 07-19-2005 05:32 PM
For me, it has nothing to do with the "romance" with the job as to my feeling that reel-to-reel is superior...as an employee in a job that I don't need for income, I will only run a reel-to-reel booth THAT is personal preference. I've run platters for decades and often the better paying "gigs" had them.
I absolutley have found that reel-to-reel is the best way to show a movie and handle it. The dirt found at the beginning/end of a reel is the result of an inept operator, not the process. I also don't find issues with rewinding film and don't consider it to be stressful to the film. So far, I've only found 1 platter that thus far seems to not only run film but respect it.
I have yet to find any plattered film, run for any length of time to look as good as I've seen run reel-to-reel for an equivalent amount of time...regardless of platter.
I have yet to go to a multiplex, of any company, where the majority of the films didn't have visible damage showing on the screen...and that includes Louis' National Amusements theatres (aka Multiplex and Showcase).
Ya know we can and have gone round and round on this issue...you all can believe what you want, I will believe what the evidence has shown me. Calling what I said as a "lie" was just plain wrong however. Your experience clearly differs with my own. That is all.
Louis...you mentioned something about operators at the Uptown when you did technical set ups...up until 2005...the Uptown theatre in Washington DC has always had union operators for 100% of all shows. Your memory is mistaken on this aspect.
Scott...as to automation versus human...automation will be more consistant though often less flexible (depending on the attitude of the person ![[Wink]](wink.gif) ) The simple act of performing a changeover is not inherently better via person. This is true of platter or changeover though. A properly running automation will deliver the same show, every show. I prefer to run a manual show and feel my shows are better and more sophisticated than the typical automation can handle...but with enough complexity in the automation, that too can be duplicated with higher repeatability.
But back to the Uptown...the prints of the Uptown that I've personally seen scratched were scratch in a similar manner to what I've seen it most theatres...just on the Uptown screen it represents 100% of the shows (single screen), the screen is deeply curved (16-feet deep) so any damage also shows up as a curvy line(s) and it is blown up incredibly big...so big that 1.85 films really do look way too grainy..even 75 feet away.
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 07-22-2005 02:34 AM
quote: Steve Guttag
so big that 1.85 films really do look way too grainy..even 75 feet away.
...always the one small disadvantage with a deep curved screen showing 1.85/1 flat movies: Flat movies belong on a flat screen to look good.
Knowing this is due to my visits to the VILLA theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah. www.villatheatre.com
This house used to be a "3-hole" Cinerama house before Cinerama faded away and went to a two-machine Norelco AA-2 changeover booth running Ashcraft Super Corelites for the lamphouses. What a great setup this place had.
"2001: a space odyssey" (in 70mm) looked fantastic on the screen in this house, but seeing the original "Bad News Bears" w/Matthau in 1976 at this same theatre, being that the feature was in 1.85/1, the feature looked terrible being dull, grainy, no contrast on that deep curved screen-even with the masking pulled in for flat presentations.
Last time I saw a carbon arc, 70mm presentation there was when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" played there in 1981. Even with a blow-up 35 to 70mm print being used, the colors, contrast sharpness of focus and brilliant picture was still there.
Then for "Temple of Doom" in 1984, the place ditched the Ashcrafts, put in a pair of Christie SLH lamphouse using a 4k bulb. Talk about a drastic reduction of quality in presentation - mainly due to the bulb wasn't properly focused, or a beam spreader wasn't used to fill that wide aperture with the necessary light. For the sides of the image were defintely dimmer than the center of the image, and no "hot spot" was noticed on bright scenes either.
After "Temple of Doom" left, out came the left Norelco AA-2 and a CHR AW3 went in it's place and no more 70mm was shown at this theatre.
This place still had union operators taking care of all of this for the longest time until the building was sold to Carmike. Then it became a staff run booth until Carmike left the theatre in 2003.
......................................
I think, that if this newer generation of booth operators ever had the opportunity to run a changeover house, they would probably have a better understanding on what went on to show a movie on the screen, and they would possibly have more appreciation for this form of film presentation.
I always tell the stories, experiences, procedures and show the people the pictures from my collection who work with me in the many automated booths that I've worked at, of how "it used to be". And it's amazing how many wished that they could have been there experiencing this form of film presentation-the hands on experience. While some would mention "how boring" or "how complicated" this form of presentation looked like.
..it's just the "changing of the times" thing.
thx-Monte
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Jeremy Fuentes
Mmmm, Dr. Pepper!
Posts: 1168
From: Corpus Christi, TX United States
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 07-22-2005 11:35 AM
I dont think its a lack of appreciation from those who havent had the opportunity to run a changeover show. At least not from my personal standpoint. I'd love to be able to run those kind of shows. Its more of an attitude of why do you think that your spotless presentation is better than my spotless presentation, just because you run changeovers. I understand more work is put into it, but guess what, you get paid more money too. I doubt there are any projectionists running changeovers for a 1 or 2 screen showmanship type theater for $5.15 an hour. And there are plenty of minumum wage Usher-B button pushers who put on a damn good show, because its their job. But what it all comes down to is putting on a spotless presentation for the customers, who dont care if we are running platters, changeovers, VHS, DVD, or putting on a hand puppet show on screen...as long as they are getting what they paid for. In this case, since prints are being scratched, they arent getting their moneys worth.
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